New approaches to old problems: how to introduce ecosystem information into modern fisheries management advice

Ecosystem-based fisheries management (EBFM) aims to go beyond single-species management by incorporating ecosystem considerations to guarantee the sustainable use of marine resources. Although many countries have formally committed to the implementation of EBFM, at a practical level progress has been very slow. At the analytical level, many advances have been made, developing sophisticated ecosystem models and, on the other side, rigorous stock assessment models. Yet it is still unclear how these two parallel approaches can be brought together to provide an efficient EBFM. Here we first present the two groups of models, we then discuss ways to integrate both approaches and their resulting possible implications for fisheries advice towards sustainable management, with a special focus on spatially explicit information.

Automated summary

Ecosystem-based fisheries management aims to ensure the sustainable use of marine resources, but progress has been slow in practice. Researchers have developed ecosystem models and stock assessment models, but it is still unclear how to effectively integrate them, especially in providing fisheries management advice.